A few years ago, I got an email supposedly from a very famous movie producer. I mean very famous. The gist of the email, which was obviously from a bogus email account at gmail (any valid email would come from the company's email address), was that he was so impressed with my book, he wanted to explore the possibility of making a movie of it.
Wow, awesome. Except, I knew it was a scam.
This excerpt is from Writer Beware:
An increasingly frequent fraudulent tactic is impersonation: of reputable literary agents, major publishers, renowned movie production companies, even bookstores and organizations like the American Booksellers Association. The aim is to convince you that you’re on the cusp of real, reputable representation, publication, immortality on the silver screen, books on shelves nationwide…there’s just something you have to pay for first (a screenplay, a “cinematic trailer”, an IP lawyer to handle contracts, “book licensing”, a “book returnability program“, an appearance fee…the list is endless). Once the scammer gets you on board, it’s open season on your bank account: you will be heavily pressured to spend more and yet more money on goods and services that may be hugely overpriced, entirely fictional, never actually delivered, or all three.
The scammers try to get you to make contact, and as stated above, pressure you into spending money for . . . nothing. I mean nothing.
If you're a writer and you get emails like these, trash them immediately. do NOT engage.
There are also scammers who impersonate famous authors. They give your book flowery praise (probably from AI) and say they just want to "connect" with you to talk about writing. As above, if you reply, they "recommend" an "agent" or "editor." And the money starts leaving you.
Beware.
